Railway ballast distributing car door assembly

ABSTRACT

A terracing door assembly for a railway hopper car having an outer door which also functions as a chute and an inner ballast flow control door. A mechanism is provided to lock the outer door in its closed position and also in several lowered and open positions. The inner ballast flow control door may be opened to a variety of positions ranging from fully closed to fully opened and may be locked in these positions by means of a sliding locking bar whose ends ride in guides located on opposite sides of the ballast discharge opening. A tool is provided for opening and closing the inner ballast flow control door.

O Umted States Patent 1151 3,667,400 y 14s] June 6, 1972 [54] RAILWAYBALLAST DISTRIBUTING 1,823,029 9 1931 Campbell ..105/239 x CAR DOORASSEIVIBLY 1,854,799 4/1932 Livingston.

2,555,173 5/1951 White ..105/239 [72] Inventor: Sergio- Rene Damy,Apanado Postal A I 2041, Guadalajara, Jalisco Mexico PrimaryExaminer-Arthur L. La Point Assistant Examiner-Howard Beltran [22]Ffled' Nov. 1970 Attorney-Parker, Carter & Markey [211 App]. No.: 86,486

' [57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl ..105/239, 37/104, 104/ 1 A terracing doorassembly for a railway hopper car having an 104/2, 105/248, 105/252,105/293, 105/309 outer door which also functions as a chute and an innerballast [51] lm. Cl. ..B61d 7/18, 861d 7/26, F071 5/27 flow control o Am ni is pr to l k he er [58] Field of Search ..37 104;104/1,2;1o5/239,door in its closed Position and also in Several lowered and 05 24 252293 309 open positions. The inner ballast flow control door may beopened to a variety of positions ranging from fully closed to 56]References Cited fully opened and may be locked in these positions bymeans of I a sliding locking bar whose ends ride in guides located onop- UNITED STATES PATENTS posite sides of the ballast discharge opening.A tool is provided for opening and closing the inner ballast flowcontrol 1,689,806 10/1928 Straw ..105/239 doc: 1,732,545 10/1929 Straw..105/239 1,743,579 l/19 30 Straw ..105/239 4 Claims, 6 Drawing FiguresRAILWAY BALLAST DISTRIBUTING CAR DOOR ASSEMBLY SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThis invention is concerned with a terracing door assembly for a hoppercar and more particularly with such an assembly having a ballast flowcontrol door.

An object of this invention is a terracing door assembly for a hoppercar having an inner ballast flow control door which may be opened to avariety of positions to control the flow of ballast across a dischargechute door.

Another object is a discharge chute door which may be selectively lockedin a number of lowered positions.

Another object is a ballast flow control door which may be opened to avariety of positions and locked in each of said open positions.

Other objects may be found in the following specification, claims anddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention is illustrated more orless diagrammatically in the following drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of a hopper car having a ballastingdoor assembly of this invention and showing the ballast flow controldoor being opened;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a tool for operating the ballast flow controldoor;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged partial side elevational view of the tool of FIG.2;

FIG. 4 is a partial enlarged cross-sectional view of the terracing doorassembly of this invention with the ballast flow control door shown inphantom in its fully open position and the discharge chute door shown inone of its lowered positrons;

FIG. 5 is an end view of the ballast flow control door and locking barwith parts broken away; and

FIG. 6 is a partial side elevational view showing the discharge chute'door in its lowest position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG. I shows a terracing doorassembly of this invention installed in the side of a discharge chute ofa hopper car. The terracing door assembly includes a generallyrectangular frame 1] which may be secured to the side 13 of the chute inany conventional manner such as by welding or riveting. The frameincludes side members 15. A rod 17 is secured to and extends between theside members adjacent the lower ends thereof. As is shown most clearlyin FIG. 4, a tube 19 is journalled on the rod 17. A pair of arms 21 fitaround the tube 19 and are secured thereto as by welding. The arms arespaced apart and are located adjacent the ends of the tube.

Sleeves 23, (FIG. 6) each having ratchet portions 25 at one end thereof,fit over the ends of the tube 19 with the ratchet portions located atthe outer ends thereof. The sleeves 23 are fastened to the arms 21 bymeans of keys which are not shown. Coil springs 29 are positioned overthe sleeves 23 with one end of each spring held in position by a .I bolt(not shown). The other end of each spring is connected to a notch 33 inan arm 21, see FIG. 4. A cover 35 is provided for each spring with 7each cover being welded to a horizontally extending inclined plate 37which in turn is secured to angle member 38 which extends between and issecured to the side members 15 of the frame I l.

A discharge chute door 39 is welded to the arms 21. The door is equippedwith side plates 41 which, in the closed position of the door, fitinside the side members 15 of the frame 1 l. The ratchet portion 25 ofeach sleeve 23 is provided with a first stop wall 45, a first notch 47,a second notch 49 and a second stop wall 51.

A locking member 57 is provided for the discharge chute door 39. Thislocking member includes a pair of arms 59 which are secured to a rod 61which in turn is joumalled to the side members 15 of the frame 11.Formed as a part of each arm and located adjacent the rod 61 is a hookportion 63 having a notch 65. When the discharge chute door is in itsclosed position, the notches 65 are adapted to engage stub rods 43 whichextend outwardly from the side plates 41 of the door 39 in the mannershown in FIG. 1.

A rod 67 is pivotally attached to each arm 59 and extends downwardlyalong the side member 15 of the frame. The other end of each rod ispivotally connected to a ratchet portion engagement member 69. Theratchet portion engagement member 69 contacts the first stop wall 45when the discharge chute door 39 is in its closed position (not shown)to assist in locking the door in this position. The ratchet portionengagement member 69 also contacts .the first notch 47 of the ratchet 25in the manner shown in FIG. 4 to lock the discharge chute door 39 in anintermediate open position and engages the second notch 49 as shown inFIG. 6 to lock the discharge chute door 39 in its lower open position.The engagement member 69 may also engage the second stop wall 51 tolimit opening movement of the discharge chute door 39. A stub handle 71is attached to and extends outwardly from thefree end of each arm 59. I

A ballast flow control door 81 is mounted on the frame 11 inwardly ofthe discharge chute door 39. The door is hinged at one end to ahorizontally extending rod 83 by means of loops 85. The horizontal rod83 extends between and is attached to the side members 15 of the frame11 near the top thereof. A central opening 87 of generally rectangularshape is formed in the door 81. A coveringplate 89 mounted on spacers 91is positioned behind the opening 87. The covering plate 89 and spacers91 form a channel 93 on the rear surface of the door 81. A slide piece95 dovetails in the channel 93 and has a portion which extends slightlyout of the front of the opening 87. A locking bar 97 is attached to theoutwardly extending portion of the slide piece and the opposite ends ofthe locking bar ride in channel-shaped guides 99 which are affixed tothe side members 15 of the frame 11.

An operating tool 107 for the ballast flow control door is shown in usein FIG. 1 and in detail in FIGS. 2 and 3. The T- shaped tool includes anelongated handle 109 having a tubular cross piece 111 fastened at oneend thereof and reinforced by triangular gussets 113. Short tubular rods115 are attached to the outer ends of the tubular cross piece 1 l 1 tofunction as fulcrums.

The use, operation and function of the invention are as follows:

The terracing discharge chute door 39 is shown in its fully openposition in FIG. 1 in which the ratchet engagement member 69 is seatedin the second notch 49 of the ratchet 25 to thereby lock the door in itsfully open position. Also, in this figure the operating tool 107 isshown in engagement with the slide piece 95 and locking bar 97 and isbeing used to raise these members to open the ballast flow control door81. The locking bar is moved upwardly as guided by the guides 99 and thedoor 81 will swing outwardly under the pressure of the ballast. Thelocking bar will automatically lock in any position along the guides 99when the operating tool 107 is released. In any selected position, theweight of the door 81 plus the ballast will force the bar 97 against thesides of the guides 99 to lock the bar and door in place.

To release the locking bar from locked engagement with the guides 99,the tubular cross piece 11! of the operating tool 107 is inserted in thechannel 99 above the locking bar 97 and slide piece 95 with the crosspiece contacting the door 81 and the fulcrum rods 115 engaging theinside surface or walls of the guides 99. The operating tool is thenrotated about the fulcrum rods 115 forcing the door 81 inwardly and thusreleasing the locking bar 97 from engagement with the, inside surfacesor walls of the guides 99. When the locking bar 97 is released it willfall under its own weight to its lowest position thereby closing thedoor 81. By adjusting the opening of the ballast flow control door 81,the amount of ballast allowed to flow out over the discharge chute door39 may be controlled.

The discharge chute door 39 may also be locked in a slightly elevateddischarge position shown in FIG. 4 in which it provides at least 5inches ground clearance so that it will not interfere with switches andswitch operating mechanisms during ballasting operation in yards. Thisintermediate position is obtained by the provision of an additionalnotch 47 in the ratchet portions of the door supports.

What is claimed is:

1. A ballast flow control door assembly for a terracing outlet of ahopper car of the type in which the terracing outlet includes a frameinstalled in a discharge chute of the hopper car, a door pivotallymounted to the bottom of said frame for movement from an upstandingposition in which it closes said opening to lowered positions in whichsaid door functions as a chute for said opening,

said ballast flow control door assembly including:

a pair of guides mounted on opposite sides of said frame,

a ballast flow control door pivotally mounted to the top of said framefor outward opening movement relative thereto with said pivotal mountinglocated inwardly of said guides, and

a locking bar extending across the width of and mounted on said door forsliding movement from the top to the bottom thereof,

said locking bar having end portions positioned in said guides tooperate the door.

2. The ballast flow control door assembly of claim 1 furthercharacterized in that said discharge chute door is adjustable to aplurality of lowered positions and means are provided to selectivelylock said discharge chute door selectively in each of said positions.

3. The ballast flow control door assembly of claim 1 furthercharacterized in that said guides are inclined to the vertical and theupper portions of said guides are located outwardly of the pivotalmounting of said ballast flow control door and the lower portion of saidguides are located inwardly of said pivotal mounting.

4. The ballast flow control door assembly of claim 1 furthercharacterized in that said control bar is affixed to a slide plate andsaid slide plate is dovetailed in a channel in said ballast flow controldoor.

* it l i I!

1. A ballast flow control door assembly for a terracing outlet of ahopper car of the type in which the terracing outlet includes a frameinstalled in a discharge chute of the hopper car, a door pivotallymounted to the bottom of said frame for movement from an upstandingposition in which it closes said opening to lowered positions in whichsaid door functions as a chute for said opening, said ballast flowcontrol door assembly including: a pair of guides mounted on oppositesides of said frame, a ballast flow control door pivotally mounted tothe top of said frame for outward opening movement relative thereto withsaid pivotal mounting located inwardly of said guides, and a locking barextending across the width of and mounted on said door for slidingmovement from the top to the bottom thereof, said locking bar having endportions positioned in said guides to operate the door.
 2. The ballastflow control door assembly of claim 1 further characterized in that saiddischarge chute door is adjustable to a plurality of lowered positionsand means are provided to selectively lock said discharge chute doorselectively in each of said positions.
 3. The ballast flow control doorassembly of claim 1 further characterized in that said guides areinclined to the vertical and the upper portions of said guides arelocated outwardly of the pivotal mounting of said ballast flow controldoor and the lower portion of said guides are located inwardly of saidpivotal mounting.
 4. The ballast flow control door assembly of claim 1further characterized in that said control bar is affixed to a slideplate and said slide plate is dovetailed in a channel in said ballastflow control door.